You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
1 Peter 1:18–19
Words: Anne Steele, Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional 1760.
Music: Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten Genevan Psalter, 1547 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good picture of Steele (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Enslaved by sin and bound in chains,
Beneath its dreadful tyrant sway,
And doomed to everlasting pains,
We wretched, guilty captives lay.
Nor gold nor gems could buy our peace,
Nor all the world’s collected store
Suffice to purchase our release;
A thousand worlds were all too poor.
Jesus the Lord, the mighty God,
An all-sufficient ransom paid.
Invalued price, His precious blood
For vile, rebellious traitors shed.
Jesus the sacrifice became
To rescue guilty souls from hell;
The spotless, bleeding, dying Lamb
Beneath avenging justice fell.
Amazing goodness! love divine!
O may our grateful hearts adore
The matchless grace, nor yield to sin
Nor wear its cruel fetters more!
Dear Savior, let Thy love pursue
The glorious work it has begun,
Each secret, lurking foe subdue,
And let our hearts be Thine alone.